A terrific hockey story is unfolding today. Former defenseman David Carle, who was forced to retire immediately after being diagnosed with a deadly heart condition at the 2008 NHL combine, has been hired by Green Bay Gamblers coach Derek Lalonde to serve as an assistant with the United States Hockey League team (junior-A). Lalonde is a former University of Denver assistant/goaltending coach who is in his first season with the Gamblers, currently playing in the Clark Cup Finals against the Waterloo Black Hawks.

The 22-year-old Carle, the younger brother of Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Matt Carle — DU’s only Hobey Baker Award winner — is scheduled to graduate from Denver in June, after serving as a student assistant coach under George Gwozdecky for four years. He will begin working with the Gamblers June 1. David has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart that has been linked to sudden death for young athletes.

“Exciting times,” Lalonde told me over the phone this morning. “I was excited about recruiting David as a student athlete and then getting the opportunity to work with him after learning of his unfortunate heart condition. After he accepted the situation and began looking forward, full-steam ahead, I knew he was going to be special coach. In the back of my mind, I always thought there would be an opportunity to hire him. When that opportunity came, David was the first person I turned to. This is just gong to be a start to a terrific (paid) coaching career.”

Matt Carle, 27, is a top-four NHL defenseman, and pretty much the best offensive defenseman I’ve ever seen play college hockey, and I’ll never forget after David Carle committed to DU in 2008, and Matt was in Denver with the San Jose Sharks to play the Avalanche, he said David is “better than me.” David was projected to go in the first or second round of the 2008 draft, before his heart defect was detected. Those doctors likely saved his life; David went into arrhythmia at Magness Arena after an over-intense, on-ice workout as a sophomore — a near-deadly situation that served as a warning shot across the bow.

David replaces John Rogger at Green Bay. Rogger is the new coach for the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers. The Gamblers went 47-9-4 in the regular season and are tied 1-1 in best-of-five Clark Cup Finals against Waterloo.

I spoke to David Carle on Thursday night while he was traveling. He said he’s very “appreciative and fortunate” to become what figures is the USHL’s youngest coach, and although he doesn’t know what he’ll be doing in 10 years, his experience working under Gwozdecky’s staff has naturally prompted him to continue coaching.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.